Got an idea that youve been waiting to realize? Maybe, you have some doubt regarding your future or your dreams. If you can relate to that, dont worry because many of us feel trapped sometimes.
Fortunately, the feeling can be dealt with using certain effective techniques. This article describes how changing your perspective and looking back at what really drives you, mastering the skill of recording your achievements, and getting some help from an advisor contribute to your success.
So lets see what can be done to charge you up!
Find out the purpose of your life, something to remember you for, and record your achievements.
Tremendous success depends on what drives you. Then, how do you proceed if your enthusiasm is not as great as your objectives?
When you wish to build a certain public image of yourself, you might find enough drive to help you, despite the majority of motivational coaches saying not to listen to what others tell you. Thats how it was for Jodi, a business leader and one of the authors: she used to gather frequently with other female managers in her industry. However, these gatherings did nothing to help since, instead of encouraging, the women usually disheartened each other.
In a while, Jodi became aware of her desire to be remembered as an empowering woman and not merely as a good businesswoman. It drove Jodi to create No More Nylons, which was a community where women could establish various relations as well as support and help each other professionally in order to succeed in business where men still prevailed.
By realizing what she wanted to be, Jodi found a needed push to act on her new idea. She also had to maintain that enthusiasm and concentration, so she started to record her achievements, which was used another technique.
We continue on our way only when we see what we have achieved so far. For Jodi, it was important to get women (the more, the better) to support each other. She recorded her achievements by writing down how many attended her gatherings each time, thus determining the progress of her endeavor. The numbers showed Jodi that No More Nylons united more and more women, which helped her to go on.
Despite everything, Jodi had to pause from time to time in order to see her achievements, or else they would be undetected. Getting a break to think about your success and commemorate certain occasions is necessary for maintaining your spirit.
Therefore, make sure you mark every stage of your new project, whether it is developing a successful strategy or completing the initial phase, or even attracting a new customer. So, make sure to have a cake stacked somewhere nearby to mark a milestone because your productivity depends on your ability to relax from time to time.
Look for guidance and motivation from teachers, advisors, and exemplars.
You need to have someone to stimulate you to action when necessary if you want to keep your focus and your drive and meet your objectives. That individual would be your teacher, or your example, or your advisor. He or she would not annoy you with their criticism but rather prompt you to action with their example.
Benjamin Franklin motivated Jason, another author, who eagerly read books about his life and work. Apart from being great at science and designing new things, Benjamin Franklin was an important figure in the history of the United States of America, its creation in particular.
His achievements werent made due to sheer luck: in fact, Benjamin Franklin was highly efficient and self-disciplined. In order to make continuous learning possible, he formed a set of guidelines as well as the pluses and minuses system for making good decisions. Franklin shared invaluable knowledge with Jason who continues to quote him till this day.
In Jasons case, a couple of centuries prevented him from actually communicating with Benjamin Franklin, but you are able to get to know a real living exemplary individual who could advise you regarding your field of work. If no one comes to mind, then start looking!
You might want to begin your search for an advisor at various conferences. If you find a person who might be the one you are looking for, just ask them if they would agree to teach you there is nothing to be embarrassed about! Such events as Jodis No More Nylons or other smaller-scale gatherings may become the place to find an advisor.
There may also be a possibility to meet some prominent individuals and leaders outside your circle. Then, get ready to prove your determination. Moreover, when you ask specific questions instead of general advice, a probability of receiving a response is higher.
Break down your major objectives into minor controllable activities and distinguish turning points on the way.
As it was mentioned before, its crucial to mark special occasions in the course of attaining your goals. In order to make the most of this approach, you should be careful regarding the special occasions you distinguish.
To begin with, build a project calendar where you would define a couple of smaller activities and a number of important and precise occasions to be celebrated approximately every month. Then group them into bigger clusters with the duration of about 90 days and three occasions to single out.
For example, when you create a new product, a bigger cluster could include designing a first prototype in 90 days, and the three major occasions would be finishing your final design, developing a first model, and conducting trials. Afterward, there will be different three occasions for the next 90 days. Thus, there would always be something to look forward to and a direction to take, which would make the task of achieving major goals less daunting.
When you adhere to this principle of dividing your projects into 30- and 90-day clusters, your drive and enthusiasm will last longer.
If you ever feel unable to squeeze your workload into the frame of a day, the 30-by-30 division approach will help. Being occupied with one phase of your project, you might dread the following one as the time goes on.
Nevertheless, half an hour of diligent work each day for a month before the next phase will mean 15 hours of accomplished work on the way to your goal even before you have started spending actual effort. Thus, even if you combine your family duties with your every-day work, youll be able to complete each step of your plan anyway.
If you tend to lose your determination halfway through, the 90-by-90 division approach is for you. Each month, devote 90 minutes of the first day of work to examining future objectives to be completed in the next 90 days, determining what tasks to fulfill between the stages to make a bit of progress when possible. It would provide more space to address sudden issues or daily challenges.
Follow your achievements to detect any critical situations arising.
Even when you carefully devise a strategy for a 90-day period and adhere to the 90-by-90 division principle, you still might make mistakes or get off-track from time to time. It might happen when a major deadline expires in a week, for example. How to best dodge such mishaps?
Determining minor signs of your accomplishments will help you follow your major achievements on the way to your goal and demonstrate the overall state of things.
For instance, imagine you are preparing for a marathon. There are many possible signs of your progress you can find each week, including the number of miles or the number of days you spend running, sleeping well, and eating properly.
Determine for yourself what these signs really are when approaching certain marks on your project calendar. Afterward, analyze these signs in order to reveal a possible decline in the drive or motivation in order to avoid unnecessary problems. Using post-it notes, colorful markers, or other visual aids might actually contribute to a better monitoring of your key achievements.
Remember, though, its impossible to keep track of everything. Surely, additional tracking might seem great at first and create an illusion of total control over various factors. However, normal changes may be too much for you if you focus on detail only, which might dishearten you and prevent from seeing a bigger picture.
Investigate the peculiarities of your field of work and identify the markers to have a clear understanding of the state of your project; its progress should be followed regularly. Having frequent check-ups on the projects development proves effective in terms of saving time and resources and eliminating threats before they develop.
Do not let any disappointments stop you just implement some changes.
The capability to change is the last technique you need for motivational purposes: you should know how to alter your plan when you realize something is amiss.
Facing a challenge on the way to our goal, we often think about simply abandoning the project. Learning how to control such urges and how to implement necessary changes can provide new solutions and means to achieve your goals. The implementation of changes is not done to the major goals but the plan and its stages designed in accordance with those goals.
For example, you want to run 15 miles each week to prepare for a marathon that would take place in a month. However, you realize that you manage to run only 12 miles at most. So, you choose a marathon that takes place later, in 3 months, for instance.
Thus, instead of exhausting your body or canceling your participation in the marathon, you alter your project providing yourself with more time. As a result, you can follow the same direction toward your wish to run a marathon without losing your enthusiasm.
However, be careful not to change too many aspects at the same time; in this case, simplicity produces better results. For example, the prospect of having to run more every week is a valid reason to increase your training time, though it should not influence your sleeping or eating patterns. A minor alteration is enough at the beginning; if there are no positive results in a while, make another change. The better you follow the progress, the more likely you are to detect any arising need for a change.
Most importantly, keep in mind that making changes in your plan or deadlines doesnt mean you are failing. You are merely preserving your drive in order to reach your final destination, your goals, which is of higher importance.
Conclusion
It is quite difficult to find inspiration to finish a project being there every step of the way. Distributing your workload sensibly, striving for a positive public image, looking for motivation, and altering your plans when necessary help you to build and preserve your drive thats essential to attain your goals.
Valuable tips:
Preserve your drive and enthusiasm and teach how others to do it with your gratitude.
Praise you fellow colleagues who achieve something or make progress. It will help them feel motivated to work with you and make sure you both benefit; moreover, praising everyones small achievements will become common in your workplace changing the overall atmosphere.
Furthermore, encouraging others might encourage you since you see the results of your good influence on them. On the whole, both you and your colleagues will find your drive easier and will be likely to keep on going longer.